The Washington Capitals started their 2023-24 season on the wrong foot, dropping a decisive 4-0 loss at home Friday night. Even more frustratingly, that loss also came against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, who fell to the Chicago Blackhawks just three nights earlier. After a strong but scoreless first period, the team surrendered three goals in under eight minutes during the second period before allowing a final tally late in the third.
Friday’s game marked not only the start of the season, but also the new era of NHL head coach for new bench boss Spencer Carbery. Neither Carbery nor the Capitals were pleased with the results as they broke down what happened postgame.
“It’s probably, if you chalk it up, the worst scripted start we possibly could have had,” said a visibly-deflated Carbery. “In terms of just being disappointing, home ice, trying to generate some momentum from a season standpoint, and that certainly did not happen.
“So when you’re trying to evaluate the game as a whole, I know there’s some things inside of it that we’ll look at and probably say we did some good things, from O-zone possession time, shot attempts, controlled entries, all that stuff, but when you look at the whole body of work, probably as disappointed as you could have scripted.”
Nicklas Backstrom, who spent most of the game on the Caps’ first line alongside Alex Ovechkin and TJ Oshie, did not mince words when speaking about his team’s performance.
“Think the first period was okay, but we started — it was more our fault, I think,” he said. “We shot ourselves in the foot with our execution and puck management. They’re a good team, so you can’t really give them those opportunities there.”
For Backstrom, the loss seemed characteristic of a larger pattern of the team’s play, particularly as they attempt to bounce back from a season that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
“I think a lot of years that we can be better, be smarter with the puck and, I don’t know, it’s just tough to see when we’re not executing,” he said.
Defenseman John Carlson similarly criticized the team’s execution, highlighting their failure to capitalize on opportunities as they arose.
“I think there was definitely some of those times where, when you have the teams on the ropes, it’s easy to just want to play possession and try to find something and keep wearing them down,” he explained. “But I think it comes to an end because there’s no perfect (line) changes. You’re also skating around the zone pretty fast and if you don’t strike and really put them on their heels, then one little bounce of the puck, one little nice play by them, and then you wasted a perfect opportunity to get into attack mode and turn it into a regroup or something like that.”
Carlson also noted, “In the first two (periods), I think we got a lot of chances. Maybe they faded away a little bit as the game went on, but I think if we’re looking at strictly scoring chances, we probably had enough to pot a couple goals at least. When you don’t bear down a little bit, when they make big saves, they get the momentum, it’s all part of the game. And I think we could have been better at that.”
Though it did not reflect on the scoreboard, the Caps appeared confident in the first period before their collapse. After recording 72 percent of the game’s scoring chances in the first twenty minutes, their share reduced to 42% in the second and an abysmal 30% in the third.
“You get down 3-0 pretty quick in a matter of minutes, it’s tough to battle back,” said Charlie Lindgren. “So it was back and forth the first period and they kind of took it to us in the second.”
Ovechkin blamed himself for the first tally against after failing to get the puck out of the defensive zone. Penguins center Evgeni Malkin would record his first goal of the season less than five minutes into the second period and the Capitals would play the rest of the game behind.
“First of all, it was my bad in that goal,” Ovechkin said. “Kind of off of my stick, go to blue line and they make the play. But I think we play well first period. Second one, we didn’t score, they scored. And that was kind of the game.”
The Capitals’ weaknesses became especially evident away from five-on-five play. Two of the Penguins’ four goals came while a man up, while Washington failed to score on three power play attempts and only recorded a single shot.
“I didn’t think special teams [were] very good tonight,” Carbery said. “I thought [they were] snapping it around. They make a couple of tic-tac-toe plays on both of those, I’ll have to go back and look at it. But entries were an issue for us power play wise, especially over on the left side. And then penalty kill obviously puts us in a hole.”
The game featured some lineup roster changes just hours before puck drop, with Darcy Kuemper out after the birth of his first child. Backstrom was quick to defend Lindgren’s performance as the night’s unexpected starter.
“It was great,” he said. “He made a lot of good saves. We all knew what he was capable of. He’s very calm back there and very cool.”
Even with a dour final score, Lindgren still looked to the bright side of the opportunity to play Friday, complimenting Kuemper’s composure and highlighting the chance to participate in such a storied rivalry.
“I got a really good goalie partner that was keeping me in the loop,” he said. “So he let me know yesterday evening that I was most likely going to be in the pipes. Credit to him, too. I mean it says how good of a teammate he is — he’s got a baby coming, his first baby, and he’s thinking about me. I’m super happy for the Kuempers. He’s got a great wife I’m really happy that they’re starting to build their family.
“When I found out I was playing, obviously I was excited. I grew up watching this rivalry between Pittsburgh and Washington. And I remember going on NHL.com and seeing Alexander the Great versus Sid the Kid. And being able to be a part of that game and the home opener — I thought the fans were excellent tonight right from the get go. They definitely had our backs tonight, so I definitely appreciate that too.”
Now, the Capitals will attempt to put the mistakes of their first game behind them. After a day off, they will return to the ice to prepare to face the Calgary Flames at 7pm on Monday.
“We didn’t get the result,” Ovechkin said. “Boys was ready. But, going to watch the video and going to play better next game.”
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
